Good morning everyone, Henry here, and I want to talk for a bit about taking your house to auction. This should definitely be one of the options your real estate agent presents to you, and in the current climate, you should consider it seriously. If your agent tries to dissuade you from going to auction, it means they have failed at this sales tactic before. In that circumstance, you need to question if they’re the right agent to get the price your home deserves.
The Henry Wong Team® have become auction experts over the years, and we have one of the highest clearance rates of all the RE/max agents across Australia. It’s a process we love and that we’ve perfected, and we believe it can be instrumental in getting you the right price for your home, if it’s handled correctly. Before we get into that, let’s take a look at some of the benefits of taking your property to auction.
The Benefits of Going to Auction
There are a few reasons why we recommend that many of our vendors go to auction rather than the more traditional sales process. Here are a few:
Shorter Marketing Period: We like to stick to a two to three week marketing period. We up the intensity of our campaign to ensure your listing reaches as many people in that time frame as possible. We don’t want to drag out your sale – let;’s get this done, get the price you want and get you on the path to your next chapter.
Certainty: When the auctioneer slams down the gavel, the deal is done. There is no cooling off period, no finance and no building and pest. No conditions whatsoever. If you’re the seller, or the buyer, you can move onto the next stage of your life. There’s a certainty to this process that is appealing and comforting to sellers.
Increased Competition: If you have the right agent, an auction drives competition, which in effect drives the selling price. Think of it like a restaurant: you’re looking for a place to eat dinner, and walk past an Italian restaurant with empty tables and only one or two people eating there. Around the corner is another Italian restaurant, full of patrons, with a queue to get in and a busy, buzzing vibe. Which one would you choose?
Same goes for houses – if a lot of people are interested in a home, more and more people are attracted to buying it. More buyers means a higher price. This only works if you have an agent who’s able to bring in registered bidders, though. An agent with a large network that stretches interstate and overseas, something most local agents simply don’t have.
Higher Transparency: An auction happens right in front of the buyer and seller in real time. The process is completely transparent, with each bid completely public. This means the home’s true market value is reflected in the price. The buyer can’t say they overpaid at auction – how can they, if they only paid marginally more than the second highest bidder?
Achieving Auction Success
Auction success is very dependent on your real estate agent. Always check what their clearance rate is, as this is the percentage of properties they sell at auction versus those passed in.
The Right Auctioneer
It’s important your agent uses a good auctioneer too. At The Henry Wong Team®, we use Mark MacCabe from Apollo Auctions. Apollo is the largest auctioneering group in the southern hemisphere, and Mark is one of their leading auctioneers. He was crowned 2022 REIQ auctioneer of year and was a finalist again in 2023. He ensures all of our auctions go smoothly while creating a hyper-competitive environment.
Above all though, getting the right price at auction depends on your agents ability to get your listing in front of as many people as possible in order to drive the competition as high as possible. More registered bidders means a greater chance of meeting the reserve price and having a successful sale.
Networking
One of the strategies we lean on heavily to drum up this competition is through networking. Over our years in real estate, we have built a massive referral network of colleagues, professionals, buyers and sellers.
When we list a property, we distribute it to our network first. They know us and trust us, so if the property ticks their boxes they’re more likely to give it a serious look or register as a bidder. Even if they aren’t interested, they may know someone interested and will refer the listing on. This way, we get exponential reach that agents who rely only on the main real estate portals.
Social Media
Our networking is backed up by a large and engaged following on social media, which includes over 11,000 followers on Facebook, a significant presence on Instagram and close to 3000 highly-engaged LinkedIn followers. This again helps us extend the reach of each listing, putting it in front of more potential buyers and increasing the competition come auction day.
Get in Touch with the Auction Experts
If you have any questions about putting your house to auction, or would like to delve into our process a bit more, I’m always here to help. You can get in touch here, or why not give me a call to chat directly? I’m on 0412 471 588. Let’s talk soon.
